Jacob Toppin's injury halts his hot start against South Carolina

Jacob Toppin was easily the biggest surprise for Kentucky during Tuesday night’s 86-76 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks. He was on pace for one of his most productive games as a college player before an untimely injury ruined his evening.

The 6-foot-9 junior forward made his first appearance at the 13:19 mark of the first half against South Carolina, playing a four-minute spurt before he was put back on the bench. But Toppin would come back in at the 4:15 mark and made the most significant impact of the night for his team. What Toppin did over the next two minutes of action single-handedly prevented South Carolina from overtaking a foul-troubled Wildcat team.

With both TyTy Washington and Oscar Tshiebwe on the UK bench dealing with two first-half fouls, Toppin’s number was called. An early-double digit lead for the ‘Cat vanished with so much of the team’s production on the bench. When Toppin reentered late in the first half, South Carolina trailed by just four points and possessed all the momentum.

Immediately, Toppin snuck baseline for an easy pass from Sahvir Wheeler out of broken possession that resulted in an uncontested dunk. He would miss a turnaround jumper shortly after, but didn’t drop his head — UK got the offensive rebound and Davion Mintz hit him for a simple 15-footer on the baseline. His most impressive highlight was turning down an open 3-pointer with a pump fake that turned into a baseline floater — two months ago, he passes up that shot entirely. 30 seconds later, he was flying in for a putback tip-dunk off a Mintz miss.

In just 94 seconds, Toppin scored eight points for Kentucky to push the Wildcats’ lead back to double-digits once again. Unfortunately, that was the last time anyone would see him play the rest of the night.

Toppin appeared to roll his left ankle while battling for a defensive rebound with roughly 1:45 left in the first half. He had to be helped off the court and went straight to the locker room. UK wasted little time ruling him out either, doing so during halftime.

Kentucky’s seemingly endless string of ankle injuries struck once again.

“I wasn’t worried about winning or losing the game at that point,” Keion Brooks Jr. said postgame of Toppin going down. “I was just concerned if Jacob was okay or not. I got back to the locker room after the game, it seemed like he was good, in good spirits. He’s gonna be fine. Just need to take some time to get well because we really need him.”

Keion Brooks said that Jacob Toppin seemed in good spirits in the locker room after the game after leaving in the first half with an ankle injury. "He's fine. He just needs time to get well because we need him."

— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) February 9, 2022

Ultimately, Kentucky didn’t need Toppin to fend off South Carolina down the stretch. With Washington and Tshiebwe back on the floor, UK established a double-digit lead down the stretch to secure the win. Toppin still wound up finishing with 10 points, one of six Wildcats to hit double-figures against the Gamecocks. He also grabbed three rebounds in his six short minutes of action.

After the game was over, UK head coach John Calipari didn’t provide an update on Toppin’s injury status, which is typical with the incident being so fresh. But as Kentucky fans have seen with Washington this season, ankle injuries can linger.

Toppin isn’t a starting-level contributor, but the energy he provides off the bench is invaluable. He’s a necessary piece to UK’s tournament run this March.

Get well soon, Jacob.